Time for another trip with the exciting cast of Haganai this week! So last time we spent most our time talking about Kobato’s crazy birthday party and how everyone actually managed to buy her “normal” presents, but overall they are hinting at a some interesting things lately about the story. Anyway, what about you Kara what are your thoughts?

…Dear lord, Kobato is the cutest thing ever. Er, what? My thoughts on the episode? Yeah, the plot is going interesting places for sure. Though Haganai still managed to add in those funny parts every so often, so it’s not like we’re completely into drama territory.

I want to make a movie!

Kobato got older! Just kidding this was another impressive Rika cosplay!

There are countless series of anime out there that focus on this as a “club” activity or just for fun and the only ones that come to my mind right now are Ano Natsu, Hyouka and who could ever forget the two seasons of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya?! I found it completely funny that Yozora was quickly inspired by Kobato’s club idea of making a movie! That said, I bet everyone was basically like how is that a surprise because the opening already hints at the no friends club making some kind of odd fantasy based movie?! That is if you count the opening as anything but your average anime opening. I like to think of them as “previews” of what is to come in that season even though they tend to spoil you especially the shounen based openings *cough* Fairy Tail *cough* Anyway! Was anyone else surprised that Yozora cast herself and Kodaka as the lead roles? Honestly, I saw that a mile away and of course Sena is going to react the way she did and not to mention Yozora used the whole “because we are childhood friends” as an excuse was dumb and sure that is another hint towards a possible hookup between Kodaka and Yozora. In the end, thankfully Rika came up with an alternative way to pick the roles even though it quickly changed EVERYTHING in the script.

So, the important question this week do you think Sena was in the right when she spoke up about the past being not so important? I suppose you could argue the fact that in some cases it is important to some people? Personally I feel that Sena was right to bring it up because damn Yozora hangs onto the past with Kodaka all the time yet she doesn’t do ANYTHING with it? Sure they share some good memories but that is about it…

Friends? Not friends?

Kodaka-“I should take some notes.” Yozora-“Yeah…we should err I mean WHAT THE HELL!?”

Kodaka-“I will be the best little sister character!”

AHAHAHA Kodaka as a little sister. That’s great. They should have kept it that way. …But yeah, Yozora is still living in the past. Her casting of roles in the movie were painfully obvious and it seems like a lot of what she does is deeply based on the fact that her and Kodaka knew one another 10 years ago. Maybe the conversation this episode helps her move on a bit, but it overall, moving on seems like something she needs to overcome simply as a character.

As for her and Sena, this episode seemed to have them as a surprisingly pretty good balance of one another. Instead of the usual fighting, they actually did well in acknowledging one another’s good points. Sena said right out that Yozora wrote a good script and Yozora, in describing the character she based off of Sena, basically said that underneath, Sena isn’t that bad of a person. Even Sena’s point with Yozora about her needing to move on from the past seemed like more for her benefit (and the benefit of the script as a whole) as opposed to being just a malicious comment.

Now for Kodaka… I can’t believe he’s still going on about trying to find friends. Ahaha I guess this is why he still hasn’t caught on to the fact that he has an entire harem of women trying to date him (…or possibly other things, in Rika’s case). Man, anime characters can be dense. Oh well, at least we have Yukimura lightening the place up. Man, her reaction to getting the lead part was adorable.

Fun with everyone

Sena is always crazy, but we love it.

Yozora-“WE WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLD!” Kodaka-“Maybe this was a bad idea.”

Probably not enough pictures to keep her attention.

SENA IS FIRED UP!!!

End thoughts

Oh the drama of Haganai, I know that is very strange to say since I think most of us view this series as a straight up comedy every week, but there was a lot of emotion being thrown around in this episode especially in the movie making department that resulted in Sena getting in Yozora’s face about certain casting decisions. Now I don’t hate Yozora at all, I think she is a fantastic character; however, I have to hand it to Sena for actually stepping up to confront Yozora even though afterwards both of them made up rather quickly near the end. There was one question presented by Yozora this week that stood out to me and that was, what is important to you the past or the present? That is a hard question for me to answer and I feel the past ultimately has an effect on how you are as a person today, but I am sure each of us have had different experiences in the past both good and bad. Though, I feel that the present is just as important in shaping your life for the future.

Besides that odd question we had plenty of hilarious moments like Kobato entering the club room, which triggered Sena’s over the top reactions? I was like damn it Sena DON’T DO THAT! After all that birthday fun you are not scoring any extra points from Kobato by wanting to lick her. Speaking of Kobato for a moment was anyone else blown away by Rika’s random Kobato cosplay? I was like oh my god what is she doing because that was so funny! I just could not stop laughing after that reveal and I guess this officially screams a new ship has sailed between Rika and Sena… Other than those moments I did laugh my ass off at the new movie roles like Kodaka as the little sister? WHAT THE? That was my reaction, but good work on Maria for making that happen… Also, Maria is a genius for her “wait haven’t I seen this kind of story before?” YES YOU ARE LIVING IT, but I have to say will we ever get to see this movie? I certainly hope so and how funny would it be if they actually create a full blown two hour Haganai movie instead of a third season? That would be something amazing.

…Yes, screw the rest of the season. I kind of really want to see how this movie ends up. I hope they at least show how the filming goes (I don’t see why they wouldn’t, but still) and that it doesn’t get slowed down by too much drama. I’d like to think that this was the bigger fraction of a turning point for Yozora. She doesn’t have to be completely changed, but I at least hope the she’s had a bit of a realization or something that will carry into future episodes, but not completely stop things again. On the note of wanting to see the movie though, I’m kind of curious as to who would even show up to see it (minus Sena’s fan club, Kate, Kobato, and everyone participating in it). Maybe the characters might make other friends from it as well? I don’t really see a point to the characters making the movie other than just for the sake of a movie (with the cultural festival as an excuse), so let’s see where this goes.

18 Responses to “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT – 08”

The point of making a movie is always to make a movie. The idea of other people wanting to see it or even pay money to see it, is completely secondary at best.

I don’t know if it’s that Yozora is focused on being childhood friends with Kodaka, or if that’s the only hook she thinks she has for a relationship with him. It’s certainly the more comfortable hook that she has, in that she’s completely afraid / embarrassed to say that she likes him (or even that she likes anyone). Yozora wants to always rig things to put her and Kodaka closer, and get him away from Sena if possible. But both Sena and Kodaka made a good point to her, that living in the past is not being in the now. 10 years ago does matter, but it pales in comparison. The present is always the most important, because the decisions you make now impact the future. The past is only a reference from which to judge the reactions to your present decisions.

I did like Yozora’s quick follow up mail, given that she learned from the past, and especially considering how prevaricating she is in her usual emails with all the ‘betsu ni’ and ‘if you want’ and ‘doesn’t matter’ stuff. I didn’t like that she showed up in the tracksuit again. I guess she’s been permanently scared off of her prior wardrobe.

Yeah maybe they will release a OVA based around the movie? I would hate to see them waste a while episode that could have been used to progress the story, but who knows maybe that is what the club needs to realize they ARE FRIENDS…

Well the past Yozora is nothing like the present Yozora to me yes their past together might be somewhat important to her, but it is seriously time to make NEW memories and new friends of course.

Yozora will probably never wear her regular clothes and I would not be shocked if she gave most of them to Yukimura xD

I was all for sena putting yozora in her place. Lot’s of people took that scene between them as Sena telling Yozora that the her past with Kodaka in general doesn’t matter but i dont really think that was the case. The impression I got was that Sena was trying to tell Yozora to stop throwing her past around like it gives her special privileges when it comes to Kodaka in the club. In that respect, their past doesnt matter and what matters is the present. Sena naturally puts the present over the past, and i personally feel like it is important to always move forward instead of living in the past but im sure sena wasnt trying to say that Yozora’s past with Kodaka is meaningless; but that does not give her to right to make decisions within the club because of it because that’s not fair.

This is true Yozora is treating the fact that she knew Kodaka in the past as something super special and like you said it should NOT give her special privileges over everyone else in the club! Sena was in the right of course because that doesn’t really make the movie roles fair to the others.

I assume Rika is reaching the boiling point with her tolerance on Kodaka not noticing her. Her impersonations are getting frighteningly good. For a minute there, I actually thought she was Kobato. What woke me up to that was Sena calling her a fake. Never try to fool around with a stalker’s heart.

Sena acts like such an obsessive lolicon that it’s shocking a restraining hasn’t been filed against her. The drooling at the mouth while lusting for someone is the sign of a deranged lunatic. Somebody get an extra strength tranquilizer and a straight jacket. As what she told Yozora, she’s half right. The past is important if you have someone you care about but it’s more so if they’re in front of you in the present. Yozora having a death grip on the past could raise problems whereas she could better her relationship with Kodaka based on her choices in the present. Depending on what you do now is what would make you appreciate or regret the past.

Yozora and Kodaka going to the theater was hilarious. So foreign love story movies are actually undercover porn. I’ve got to pay more attention to these things. I like the insight that Yozora gave in the cafe and it gives us an explanation to her anti-social behavior which is completely understandable. There are times I would see things the same way. If you feel that something isn’t going to last, it’s better not to have anything to do with it at all. It would save you time and trouble of having emotional trauma. The good thing is that it hasn’t consumed her to the point that she becomes a total shut-in.

I don’t know how many French (or Italian) films you’ve seen, but it’s not really ‘undercover porn’, it’s more that they put in more soft scenes in the course of the story (or maybe not even in service of the story, but at least they’re related to the plot). Although maybe it’s a chance for you to practice French. 😉

Hahaha!! French is actually my second language but I seldom watch any foreign movies so this kind of content usually catches me off guard. The only foreign movie I recall watching was Let The Right One In and that was Swedish using english subtitles. The movie Yozora and Kodaka watched was definitely using the French language (especially during the “love scene” with “c’est si bon”) so I feel honored in a way.

And as Kodaka’s voiceover alluded to, Rika’s got something else she wants to say to Kodaka, and I think she’ll probably be saying it sometime soon. I’m pretty sure she’s definitely given up on dating Kodaka, tho, as much as she’d want to.

I also need to point out that as dense as Kodaka is, the others aren’t that much better with their strategies of trying to get Kodaka to notice them. Eventually you gotta figure out that he’s dense, and make your move overtly. To throw in a Minami-ke reference: Using Hitomi’s strategy of hovering around the person and hoping that when you make eye contact that your feelings will be conveyed is a path to disappointment.

Yea I think Rika’s feelings are more based on friendship because like you said she has given up the thought of being his girlfriend which is sad, but I suppose being friends is good enough for her right?

Well, Rika actually nearly tried the “Hey, go out with me, and I’ll screw you silly” come on, and Kodaka didn’t go for that at all. I think she was completely serious with that, and he didn’t bite in the slightest. So she now knows that he notices her, but doesn’t say anything, so even though she’s not ‘roadkill’, she’s not really someone who catches his eye, even after repeated strikes on his preferred type. I think Kodaka just can’t get past her initial impression she made as a superfreak.

But she also sees that he trusts her as almost a ‘bro’, after being the go-to for helping explain to Yukimura and for helping put a lid on Yozora at times. So it seems that’s what she’s gonna go with.

I kind of know what Rika was going to say and it was more about friendship vs romantic feels because I think she has a good idea that Yozora has a thing for Kodak! Oh and I had to do a double take when I saw Kobato sitting there, but learning it was Rika made me laugh so much xD

I was shocked that Sena said all of that to Yozora! Sure the past happened, but if you looked back at the time she was a completely different person in terms of personality, that and Kodaka at the time saw her as a boy…

The movie bit made me laugh just to see that shocked face on Yozora was priceless xDDD

I don’t know if Yozora was really that different of a personality back then. She was still fairly anti-social, not comfortable with herself (she was far more comfortable being ‘Sora’ the ambiguously gendered kid than Yozora the girl), and if anything she’s gotten more insular and closed off in the intervening 10 years. The past 6 months of the Rinjin-bu have made a huge difference in the way she is towards other people, but I think she’s still basically the same person.